Sammy and the Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs are a favorite preschool theme for many children. There are many great picture books that feature dinosaurs. We recently discovered a new favorite, Sammy and the Dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow. This book would be great for a bedtime read aloud or a worthy addition to any preschool theme on dinosaurs. In fact, your little ones might even enjoy our simple book activity that I created to go with the book.

In Sammy and the Dinosaurs, Sammy finds a bucket of old dinosaurs in Gran’s attic. “Dinosaurs don’t belong in boxes,” says Sammy. Sammy washes the dinosaurs, puts them in a bucket, and takes them everywhere he goes. Until one day, Sammy mistakenly leaves the dinosaurs on the train. But he knows how to get them back.

After reading this book, we used a bucket to wash our dinosaurs. It was an easy extension to the book. (We also put the bucket and the dinosaurs into our water table for play– and hopefully continued comprehension of the book later!)

This is an adorable book. The illustrations are cute. The story line is great. There are a few lines that might be confusing to a toddler– but I just rephrase it a little. My favorite part is that the book ends with “Endosaurus.” Clever.

Logan’s favorite part are the endpages. They are covered with dinosaurs. All neatly named. “What it is?” He says in his two year old lingo as he quizzes momma.

I also love this book because it reminds me of my nephew Nick. All grown up (at 6 years old) , he doesn’t rely on his dinosaurs quite as much. However, Nick was adopted from China when he was 3 1/2. When he joined his family, his mommy brought dinosaurs to break the ice. (Smart mom! Knowing what little boys like universally). Nick became very attached to his dinos (and his mommy). For the first year, he took them every where he went– not in a bucket, but usually in a large dump truck. I think he had 16 dinosaurs. He counted them a lot. Sammy in this book just reminds me of Nick. Such a loving little boy!

Comments

Thanks again for sharing your sensory water bag idea! I have a new “Featured on the Activity Mom” button. If you’d like it for you blog, please come over and grab the code from my sidebar. Either way, thanks for sharing such great ideas!